Birthdays and peas

Can we finally have peace now? Am I glad Barack Obama is President? Let me just say that the day after he took office, I broke down and cried real tears of joy reading about how he was closing Gitmo and he started calling the Middle East to broker some kind of deal. Is this guy’s heart in the right place or what?

Do I have enough peas? Never enough peas, but just enough for my family and then a little left over. The peas are the best part of winter veg, in my opinion. They’re sweet and fun to eat.

February is the month for birthdays. Jillian was born this month, as well as several of my friends. You know who you are. I’d just like to wish you all a Happy Birthday!

The book is coming along slowly. I guess you could call this the “slug” phase. I’m advancing some cutting edge ideas for gardening, including using plants to cut into poor soil, rather than a spade. It’s the laziest gardening method ever.

I spent the better part of January pruning my rose bushes, raspberries, blackberries and grapevines; and planting or purchasing three new fruit trees. I’ve added an apricot, a lemon, and a lime tree to my “orchard”. They are all dwarves. Even if they weren’t, I could prune them to keep them that way.

I’ve also started my tomatoes in flats, along with cantaloupe and pumpkins. This weather is so hot lately, I figured that if I can’t get all the winter crops to work out, I might as well start the summer stuff.

One of my peach trees is in full flower. It’s beautiful.

I have also done 2/3 of all the dormant spraying I’ll be doing on my peach trees and those of one client of mine. I’ve hung the lures for oriental fruit moth, and I’m ready to dive into peach season full force!

My daughter started her first trials on Daytrana, a drug used to help kids who have attention problems. She’s on a very small dose, and she may need more to really show a benefit. We want to start slowly and really evaluate the effectiveness before increasing dosage.

I’m taking Spanish 3 this spring, if there’s enough students in class.

I also go to meetings hosted by ASK: Advocates for Special Kids and CHADD: Children with Attention Deficit Disorder. It’s a wonder I have any time to shop, cook, clean, and garden with how much I do for my daughter. And look: I even make time to blog!

What do I do for fun? I just bought another series for the Hollywood Bowl. It’s the series that includes Herbie Hancock and Diana Krall (though those weren’t necessarily the performances which made me want to buy the series.) I also bought tickets to Death Cab for Cutie, one of my favorite bands.

And I am seeking to join a writer’s group in Palos Verdes. I have more irons in the fire than I care to name.

I was wondering to myself today: how did I accomplish so much in such a short time here in PV? And then I thought: oh, yeah: I work really hard. And I’m 47 years old. I should have something to show for my age.